Paul Burrell slams Princess Diana documentary

Paul Burrell has slammed the 'Diana: In Her Own Words' documentary for "raiding the diary" of the late Princess Diana.

Paul Burrell has slammed the 'Diana: In Her Own Words' documentary for "raiding the diary" of the late Princess Diana.

Paul Burrell

The late royal - who tragically passed away in 1997 when she was involved in a fatal car crash in Paris, France, aged 36 - is set to have a number of private recordings broadcast on UK network Channel 4 when the controversial documentary airs on Sunday (06.08.17), and her former butler Paul has now spoken out against the decision to air the tapes.

He said: "I think those tapes were made privately for the Princess' own use ... I don't think they should be broadcast. It's almost like raiding her diary. That's wrong ... It can only upset [her sons] Prince William and Prince Harry. I understand that there is a thirst for new information but I think it's a step too far."

Paul, 59, went on to slam the tapes - which were recorded between 1992 and 1993 during lessons with her vocal coach Peter Settelen at Kensington Palace - as "seedy", and called for the public to "remember the good times" rather than bring up things from the past.

He added to ITV Yorkshire: "We all need to draw a line underneath it, remember the good times ... It's not going back into the past and delving through laundry and seedy tapes and thoughts that were never meant to be made public."

The tapes were previously broadcast in the US in 2004 but have not been aired since, and in 2007 the BBC bought a portion of the footage, but scrapped the project after deeming it to be in bad taste.

Channel 4 deputy chief creative officer Ralph Lee, however, recently said the conversations could not be considered private because they were done in a question-and-answer style with a camera running, and therefore "there's nothing surreptitious" about the footage.

He said: "The idiom - that she's sitting on a sofa - is very familiar. She's very clearly talking to someone in front of a camera. There's nothing surreptitious.

"The word that has been used is that the footage is somehow 'ghoulish'. I simply don't agree with that. She is self-consciously and clearly taking part in a filmed process. I don't think viewers will feel greatly uneasy with that."

'Diana: In Her Own Words' will air in the UK on Channel 4 at 8pm on Sunday (06.08.17)